Good Times on the Farm

by Mrs. A.J. Wilder

It's Easy to Have Fun if You Plan for It

Distances are long in the country, and although it is very pleasant to go and spend a day with a friend it takes a good while to see many people in that way. Women who have been rather isolated all summer need to be enlivened by seeing people, the more the better. There is something brightening to the wits and cheering to the spirits in congenial crowds that is found in nothing else.

Why not form a neighborhood club and combine the pleasure of going "a visiting" with the excitement of a little crowd and the joy of entertaining our friends all together when our turn comes? It is less trouble to entertain several at once than to entertain several times; besides there is a great saving of time, and as the club meets at first one house and then another, the neighborhood visiting is done with less work and worry, and more of pleasure than in any other way.

Needed by Country Women.

It used to be that only the women in town would have the advantage of women's clubs, but now the woman in the country can be just as cultured a club woman as though she lived in town. The Neighborhood club can take up any line of work or study the members wish. Courses of reading can be obtained from the state university or the International Congress of Farm Women, and either organization will be glad to help with plans, advice and instruction. Bits of fancy work or sewing may be taken to the meetings and the latest stitch or short cut in plain sewing can be learned by all. Recipes may be exchanged, good stories told, songs and jokes enjoyed.

The serving of some dainty refreshments would add to the pleasure of the afternoon and keep the social graces in good practice. Women in the country as well as those in town need these occasions to show what charming hostesses and pleasant guests they can be. If the men folk want to go along, by all means let them do so. They might gather by themselves and discuss farm matters. They might even organize and have a little farmers' club of their own, if they had not done so already; then they would be even more willing to hitch up and drive to the meeting place.

No Tiresome Meetings.

There are so many ways to vary the meetings and programs they need never become tiresome or dull. Now and then the meeting may be held in the evening and an entertainment given by home talent. Sometimes the club might go in a body to a lecture or some amusement in town, or for a little excursion to the nearest city. A regular organization with the proper officers, a motto and membership badges will add to the interest, as will also being an auxiliary of some larger organization such as the International Congress of Farm Women.

Although the fall with its greater amount of leisure may be the best time to start a club of this kind, it need not be given up at the beginning of spring. The long, bright days of summer, when we all long to go picnicking and fishing, offer simply a different form of entertainment and social life and should be enjoyed to the full. Perhaps the meetings might best be farther apart while the rush of work is on, but a day off now and then will ever be noticed in the work, and will do the workers a world of good.

Mrs. A. J. Wilder. "It's Easy to Have Fun if You Plan for It." Missouri Ruralist (February  05, 1914): page 9.

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